Untitled FL Ackroyd Project
by F.L. Ackroyd
Summary: Merrick Smith lives on the quiet peaceful Cape in future America that is plagued by depression and war debts. When an unexpected thing happens to the happy family everything changes. What will happen to the Smith family? What surprises lurk within these pages? Read and find out! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE-

It had nearly been a year. A year since mother had died. Times were tough, not only for the family but also for the whole country. That is what father told us at the time. We didn't have a lot of money. Father worked all day long: at the ship yard in the mornings, the market in the afternoon and at Jervis' on the weekends. That was enough to put food on the table. Things started getting better when she came, the woman from the east. Father told us that she was a blessing from the ocean. She was here to help us and save us. At first I was the only one to believe this but then things started to change and the boys started to believe too. Father was right. She really was a blessing from the ocean.

TWENTY YEARS EARLIER-

The country was in deep. The economy had plummeted immensely in the past five years. No one had money. The rich became poor and the poor became poorer. The whole country was in trouble. The value of money had decreased all over the world which made it harder to pay off the debts from the war. Nearly every man was working two jobs to provide for his family and even the women started working again. Job creation was to a bare minimum everywhere.

Merrick Smith worked all day at the ship yard. Irene Smith worked in the factory in the mornings when the children: Thomas (15), Keifer (12), and young Haven (8) stayed at home with Louise, the nanny. Everything was well for the Smith family despite the Depression. On their property by the Cape they lived well, content with everything that they had. Most importantly, they were happy, happy until that warm October day. That is when calamity struck.

"Dad, do you think we could go down to the beach for a few hours today?" asked Thomas.

"Yeah! It is so nice and warm out" echoed Keifer.

"Daddy, please? I want to play in the sand with my new doll! I need to build her a sand castle; mommy said she would help me!" called Haven.

Merrick thought about it for a second and within a few minutes the family was trekking down the path from the house to the coast. Irene packed a picnic lunch and gave Louise the day off. Thomas, Keifer, and Merrick ran straight for the water and started to swim in the salty cape. Irene and Haven stayed up on the sand a little ways from the shoreline and started making Haven's new doll a grand castle out of the wet and warm sand. The boys swam off onto the distant, small island to try and catch some crabs for dinner. On the shore line approached wave after wave, the tide was coming in. Everything seemed to be perfect in the world at this moment. The boys off in the distance started to swim back due to no luck with the fish or crabs.

"BOO!" screamed the boys in unison.

Both of the girls let out a yelp as they fell back into the sand. The boys had no luck crabbing and had worked up an appetite from swimming back and forth between the mainland and the small, distant island. Both of the girls were now coated in a layer of grainy wet sand from the now crushed sand palace. Haven walked into the water a little ways to get most of the sand off of herself so she would be clean to help set up the picnic lunch on the beach. She laid down the quilt, which her mother and she had made, on the warm sand under the hot sun and started setting out the food. The boys went up to the house to get the forgotten plates for the food and to get the cold lemonade from the ice box. Irene waded into the ocean to wash the sand off of herself from where she had fallen into the sand. She started walking back to the shore when time stopped. A feeling of gloom fell over everything, even the happy family.

The sky turned gray. Haven heard the water start to swell up, the boys stood at the edge of the grass and sand. The wind was blowing sand in the air all around getting on everything and everyone, the sea grass was being pushed down by the forceful wind. The wave started to rise, breaking fifteen feet away from the shore line. Just like that it had happened. Irene was dragged under the salt water of the suddenly furious ocean. A whirlpool situated itself on the surface. Her arms were bobbing in and out of the water. She tried swimming out but only found herself being dragged back into the center. She was incapable of swimming up for air, one breath underwater and her lungs filled with water, asphyxiating her in an instant as her children and husband could do nothing but stand and stare.

Irene Smith. Thirty years old. Wife to Merrick Smith, mother to three children: Thomas, Keifer, and Haven. Gone.

ONE MONTH LATER- Merrick's Journal

It has been a month since the tragedy. My sweet, sweet Irene is gone. An unfathomable thought, yes, but it actually happened. It seems that the children are coping with the incident better than I am. The poor children. Their own mother. Motherless? How would that feel? I remember a time when I was a child when my mother left for a two day trip to the west with her sister. That was an awful two days. I cannot imagine a life time. Poor Haven. She is only eight and already has lost her mother. We all saw it happen. Watched her die. That is the worst of it. One thing is to have your mother be dead but another is that watch it happen. Tragedy…

The funeral was small. Friends and family. It was a depressing day for us all of course but the strong dismal storms have just made it worse. The children will not go near the water. They wont even say the word. Water. Who knew that such a simple and tranquil thing could be so evil and disheartening? Why would God do such a thing? Take away such a pure heart, a mother and a wife. They say that he works in interesting and mysterious ways and maybe this is his way of telling us something. Did we need to learn a lesson? What are we supposed to do about something like death? All we can do now is try and recover.

Now that she is unable to work at the factory I have been forced to take on two jobs and am hardly ever home. I have started working at the market in the afternoons and have been helping Old Man Jarvis on his fishing boat on the weekend mornings. Louise has been such a great help to the children, helping them cope with our loss.

For the time to come,

Merrick Smith.

* * *

The dismal storms have been taking over the coast. Everyday something new in a new place. The Cape is slowly being blown away by the strong winds and the sun hasn't shown through the thick gray clouds for a month. The beach has remained untouched since the event. The quilt, the basket, everything left where it was put. No one went to retrieve it and it was never returned. The storms had taken it all. Taken it far away just as it had taken the families happiness; the happy family was now feeling the depression just as the rest of the country had been for years.

Merrick needed some time to recover away from the Cape, away from society, and away form the ship yard.

"Kids, come here please." called Merrick down the hall.

All three of the kids lurched down the steps and into the kitchen where Merrick was standing, ready to tell the children his plans for the weekend.

"What is it daddy?" asked young Haven. "Is something wrong?"

Something indeed was wrong and had been wrong for quite some time. What wasn't wrong? The country was in the midst of the biggest debt in history. The small town off of the Cape was failing to sustain business and most important and tragic, Irene Smith was dead. Was anything okay?

"I know we have all been having a hard time recently but I am having a very hard time with a lot of things now" said Merrick.

Money was tight for the whole country but especially in the town. How much money could people bring home? Everything was near worthless and an economy based off of sea food and boating equipment wasn't enough to provide for your family. No one had money to buy expensive fish or lobster or had enough money to buy new nets or cages. You had to make what you had work. Businesses were constantly failing and leaving town due to lack of business. Without providers the consumers started to leave also. No one had come in or out of the cape in weeks. No boats. No visitors. Nothing but the few families that had no choice but to stay. Everyone was left to fend for themselves. That is how to whole country was operating and had been for years.

"I'm sorry to tell you but I will not be home this weekend. Jervis was kind enough to let me have tomorrow and the day after off of work so I could have some time to get away and try and fix things."

"We understand" chimed Haven.

Did anyone understand? Surely his family could. Haven was just a small child, could she understand anything other than the alphabet and how to count to one hundred? She understood the whole lot that no one understood. A mother and daughter bond had been broken. Haven was the closest to her mother. Thomas and Keifer of course we close but tended to favor their father. They wanted to be big strong men like he was but what they did not know was that he was not at all strong. Grief and turmoil had slowly taken him over and made him weak on the inside. Merrick tried to hold himself together everyday to make his children happy to help them get through this tough time.

"I am going to just go away for a day. I will be back by tomorrow night after supper. Please do not give Louise any trouble. She is in charge of you and you need to listen to her. Don't worry about me, I will be okay by myself." Merrick stated.

"Where are you going to go, father?" asked Keifer.

That was the issue. Merrick did not know where he was going to go. He just planned on walking and seeing where his feet would take him.

"I am going to pack a bag with food and walk down the coast. I am going to go find something for each of you. Something that will help you get through this. I will be back tomorrow night. I will see you all in the morning. Now get up to bed."

The three children all turned around and walked up to their rooms to sleep. What Merrick really needed was to find something for himself and by taking this trip that is what he hoped to do. Early the next morning he set out with his bag of food and a few dollars he had saved for a long time. He went to each of the sleeping children to kiss them goodbye but found Havens bed empty. He searched the house for her. Opening all of the cupboards, looking under all the beds, searching the attic and all the rooms, she was no where to be seen. Merrick stepped outside into the cool salt air. The clouds had started disappearing and the moon was still beaming down onto the cape water. He walked down to the shoreline to the trail and saw a small shadow formed on the sand. There she was, sitting on the quilt that she had laid out on the sad day, the day that her mother had died. Still there, the quilt seemed untouched by anything. Not a speck of sand, or water on the quilt. It was perfect. The first perfect thing in a long time. The wind blew through Havens soft dark hair and pushed it to the side. Merrick slowly stepped towards her with caution. He stood behind her and watched. He did not move or make a noise. The only movement seemed to not be coming from the waves or the wind but from Haven herself. She was moving everything with her thoughts. This is where she watched her mother die, right in the very spot she was sitting. Her screams still lingered in the air as if they were new. A tear slowly dripped its way down her face. Slower than the day it all happened. The tear landed on the quilt like an atomic bomb, exploding on the happiness that the quilt brought to Haven. The memories that it had brought her were now flooded by tears, ruined the perfection.

Merrick walked over to Haven and sat down on the quilt with her. Haven remained looking into the depths of the ocean and the sky, through the horizon and past all consciousness into the realm of the unknown which was the future. Merrick couldn't do anything but the same and stare off into the unknown as well. He felt a tear run down his face. Two tears for the future, flooding the memories that this beach brought, that the smell of the ocean salt breeze had reconciled, corrupted the peace and perfection.

Merrick kissed Haven on the head and whispered goodbye and left. He started off on the path that joined with the road a mile up. The sun was starting to rise now. Another day that he and his family would have to live with the loss of a loved one, but Merrick was determined to change that as quick as possible. He was tired of the moping around and not caring. The fake smiles and getting up every morning forcing himself out of bed, forcing himself to go to work and forcing himself to leave his aching children behind at home. There was a better off, well town a few miles down from the Cape and that is where Merrick was going to try and fix everything. His hopes were to find something that could help the children. Was it okay to leave the small cape home and come live in a better place where they were not reminded daily of the events that had taken place in their own back yard? Was it even feasible to move at this time? Merrick had little money and moving was expensive, especially in a time like this. A mile down the path, where it met the road, the clouds started to form again, hiding the sunrise from ever being seen. Without time it was impossible to tell if it was still night. Had everyone been stuck in that wretched night forever? Was time repeating itself? The war, the crash of the economy, the death of Irene, and the storms. Just when Merrick thought things were getting better, things were getting worse.


	2. Chapter 2

PART TWO-

The rain as terrible. Merrick's jacket wasn't doing a great job of keeping him dry. He had only been walking for about an hour and was already soaked from head to toe. His bread was wet which made it soggy and impossible to eat. Just when he thought things were getting better they got worse, he had jinxed himself. He thought constantly about the children. At home all alone with Louise. How were they? What were they doing? Was little Haven still on the beach in this weather? Sure enough Louise would have gotten her. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind faster than the speed of light. He kept having to remind himself of his promise to the children. That he would fix things and make the sadness go away. Was it to late now? Was the grief permanent. It sure seemed like it was.

Hours later Merrick found himself walking down a wet, muddy dirt road that lead to who knows where. He wasn't sure if it was even a safe road, he just knew that he had to find something for the children. Would he be home by the evening? The weather had made his trip slow down. He needed to tell the children but had to way of doing so. The nearest town could be miles away and what if the power was out? He couldn't reach them in any way. Turning around was no option at this point. It was beginning to get dark and the Cape was to far to go to. When he thought all hope was lost, Merrick heard a sound. The sound that saved him. A car. He could hear its engine running and see the lights around the bend of trees. He could not flag them down in anyway and the wind blowing through the trees was to loud and they wouldn't be able to hear him yell for them. He could do only one thing and this thing might be the end of him but he knew it would all be okay. He slowly stepped into the middle of the road. He could be killed in an instant if the driver did not see him through the thick rain.

He saw the lights coming around the bend. He closed his eyes, threw his hands in the air and screamed all at the same time. He heard the shrill sound of the breaks against the slick road. He was not dead, he was saved. Merrick ran up to the driver side window as fast as he could in the hard rain to see the driver. The dark window slowly disappeared in to the door, slowly revealing a dark figure in the seat. The long gloved fingers reached out of the window and gestured for Merrick to get into the car. Merrick hastily ran to the other side of the car and got in on the passenger side.

The car was warm and dry unlike the freezing November rain. The car was dark and there were no lights on the road. Merrick could see a tall, slender, and feminine looking character shadow and that was all. The head lights of the car were beyond bright and made it easier to navigate though the rain. The figure turned and looked at Merrick with caution. Merrick returned a look that was similar but grateful.

"Thank you for picking me up" wheezed Merrick.

The character did nothing but look straight at the road. It was a blessing that this driver had been around, Merrick could still be stuck on the cold dark road to nowhere if it weren't for the character. Nowhere. Where were they going? Forward was the only thing that Merrick could tell. Still alone on the dark road the car sped. The driver still said nothing. The couple drove forward in the small car through the rain that was getting harder and harder to see through.

Merrick cleared his throat and managed to say "Excuse me, but where are we going to? I am looking for help for my children whose mother has just recently died. I needed help too and you helped me. Thank you."

The driver still said nothing. This time the driver turned to look at Merrick. A faint light glowed in the distance and revealed enough of the face for Merrick to realize that it was a woman. She looked familiar.

"My name is…" Merrick was interrupted by the anonymous woman.

"Merrick Smith" cooed her soft southern voice.

She had a voice that made Merrick's ears ring. It was so familiar but he could not put a face or a name to the voice. Who had it belonged to? Who is this mysterious woman that knew who he was?

"Excuse me, Mr. Smith. I am so sorry to hear about your inconvenience and I am glad to be able to help you. I am on my way to Peaston, it is just a few miles up this road" said the woman.

Peaston. Merrick had heard of it before but never had been there. This truly was a blessing. Peaston was not the town Merrick was looking for but it would have to do. Behind a line of trees Merrick could see its lights. Peaston. It was a quiet little town that reminded him a lot of the Cape except it was a little better off. Merrick could now see the woman's whole face and it was a beautiful familiar face.

"You are more than welcome to stay with me this evening if you so please" called the woman.

All Merrick could think of was the children. How scared the must be because their father had not returned home that evening. Where was he? For all that they knew he could be dead too. Run over by a car just as Merrick himself had expected moments ago. The car pulled into a lot at a small cottage just outside of the town. There was no movement outside of the car. Not one person in sight, just lights. Merrick could hear one thing over the rain and that was the waves crashing against rocks not to far down the road. He was sick of the word. Water. Ocean. Rain. Cape. All words of sadness. Words that had taken his wife. The mother of his children.

Merrick and the woman walked into the small, dark, musty cottage. Merrick had never been happier to be inside, out of the rain. The woman flipped on a switch and the lights came on. Merrick could now see the whole cottage and he was surprised at its size. All over one of the walls was pictures. Very familiar pictures. The third and thing he was happiest to see was the phone sitting on the small table by the window.

"Miss, if you don't mind, may I use your phone to call my children and let them know that I am not lost and that I am safe?" Merrick asked.

That whole statement was a lie. He was lost and as far as he was concerned he could be in danger. Walking outside all day in the cold November rain soaking wet couldn't have been healthy.

"No, I don't mind one bit. Would you like some soup? I just made it this afternoon. It's vegetable" chimed the woman.

"That would be great, actually" called Merrick from the phone.

He dialed the number quicker than he had done anything before. The clock on the wall indicated that it was passed eleven o'clock. Surely the children weren't up. Poor Louise had to have had a dreadful time setting them down for bed. The phone kept ringing and no answer came. Just as he was about to put the phone down a voice answered.

"Hello?" said the static voice over the telephone. "Who is this?"

"Hello? This is Merrick. Louise! It is great to hear a familiar voice. I just wanted to call to let you know that I…"

Cut off. The lights shot out and the whole world went dark.

"Hello? Hello! Is anyone there?"

Nothing.

Louise knew that Merrick was alive and he was safe at a phone but knew nothing else. She did not know when he would be home, where he was, or who he was with. She could tell the children one thing and that was that their father was alive and he was safe, s far as she understood.

The woman turned on some lanterns and lit some candles and the house became dim. Merrick hung up the phone and walked into the kitchen where the mystery woman was warming his soup over a flame.

"This is quite the storm, isn't it Mr. Smith?" said the woman.

Merrick still didn't know how they knew each other and why she knew his name but he was thankful that he was in shelter with food that wasn't soggy bread.

"Sorry it isn't piping but it is warm" the woman said.

She looked at Merrick in a strange way, waiting for his reply. He took a few sips of the lukewarm soup and spoke saying,

"Thank you once again for all of this, the soup is great"

Rocks would have tasted good to him at this point. He hadn't eaten in hours and was still sopping wet. The woman brought Merrick some clothes that fit him well and she laid his own clothes out by the fireplace to dry. The couple sat by the fire to keep warm when the woman spoke again.

"I'm sorry you couldn't talk to your kids. If only I would have driven a little faster we could have gotten here sooner and you could have talked to them" said the woman.

"Oh, please. Don't blame yourself, Miss..?" Merrick trailed off.

"I am so sorry! I have not introduced myself. I know you but I am not sure you remember me as well as I remember you. I am Trisha Sachet. I am so sorry I was not able to make it to the funeral. I was out of state on business and couldn't make it. I know it is a horrible excuse not to attend your sisters funeral but I could do nothing about it" explained Trisha.

Sachet. That was it. Trisha was Irene's younger sister. Just a child about the age of Haven when Merrick and Irene had gotten married. How had she remembered him all this time?

"Trisha, it is no nice to see you now that you are all grown up! I am so sorry that I did not recognize you at first or remember your name." Merrick apologized.

"I heard you talking to someone on the telephone so hopefully whoever that was will relay the information of your safety to your children. You are free to sleep where you please. Make yourself at home. I will catch up with you in the morning. I have had a very long day and have to work in the morning, good night Merrick" said Trisha.

She walked down the dark hall and into her room and shut the door behind her. The house was dark except for the few candles burning various scents throughout the cottage and the fire in the den. Merrick got up off of the ground to take care of his soup bowl and remembered the wall of pictures. He took care of his things and with a candle stick walked over to the covered wall in black and white photographs. The pictures were old, scratched and perfect. They had people from all over the world in them. Beautiful people. In the middle of all of the pictures was one that was very familiar to him. It was he and Irene on their wedding day. A very fond memory to Merrick. On the other half of the wall were family pictures that had various people in them. Cousins, parents, grand parents and friends. The picture next to the wedding picture was flawless. It was a picture of Irene and Trisha. It was taken recently and it was taken at the Cape.

Merrick thought to himself, "how did I not remember her visiting? Where could I have been when this was taken?"

Merrick flashed back to the moment. He remembered a time years ago right after Haven had been born when Irene's family came to the Cape to help out with the new baby because he had left for the weekend on work. This picture showed the pureness of dear Irene. The once beautiful water, behind the sister, at peace. The picture made life seem perfect.

Merrick put out all of the candles and laid down on the couch by the warm fire and fell asleep instantly.

The next morning Merrick woke up to a breakfast of warm oatmeal with butter and homemade biscuits right out of the oven. The power was back on. The rain had stopped and the sun was peeking though a small gap in the overcast sky. Birds sat on telephone wires outside and small children played in the puddles in the streets. Peaston was a far different place from the Cape. It was happy and the people didn't let the depression take them over. They were happy which made the town happy.

After he was done eating Merrick went to the phone to call the children. He looked up at the wall of photos and saw one he did not see last night. It was a picture of himself holding all three children in his arms and Irene behind him, kissing him on the cheek. Merrick reached for the phone but then reached away. He knew that the children were okay. They were with Louise in the Cape. They might not have a mother or a father at the moment but they had something that can overcome any depression in the world. Merrick knew that what they needed he wouldn't find on a journey to a town he had read about in a book once. They didn't need material things. They needed only one thing and that was each other.

"Thank you so much for everything you have given me, Trisha" said Merrick.

"You said you needed help and I helped you" Trisha stated.

Trisha and Merrick walked out the door together to part their ways and to start the new day. Trisha walked off to the train and Merrick walked off to the coast with two photographs in his bag.


End file.
